Tuesday, you pick who takes on Shomari Figures

That is what is on the ballot. Not a poll, not a message, not a warm-up. The nominee comes out of Tuesday and goes straight into a twelve-week general election against a sitting Democrat who is already funded and already running. Six Republicans are on that ballot. This brief does not pick among them and never has. Whoever wins has our full support from Wednesday morning. But somebody is going to carry this fight in November, and Tuesday is the day you decide who.

Wall of Shame — Today: Alabama Power

Today on the Wall of Shame: the Alabama Power Employees Federal PAC (Birmingham) has put $10,000 into Rep. Shomari Figures' campaign account — $5,000 in August 2025 and $5,000 in March 2026. Figures then voted no on the GRID Power Act to fast-track reliable, dispatchable generation. Only five Democrats in the House voted yes. He was not one of them. The Wall of Shame exists for one reason — so that total stops growing. https://take2back.com/wall-of-shame.html

FIGURES IS ALREADY RUNNING. HE HAS BEEN ALL SUMMER.

Shomari Figures is unopposed. He has no primary, no runoff, and no need to spend a dollar convincing his own side of anything. He has had the entire summer to raise money and organize while Republicans worked out who would face him.

A Washington-based political committee, the Rolling Sea Action Fund, has already put $100,000 into radio and digital advertising supporting him. It was reported in July — before Republicans in this district had even chosen an opponent.

Nobody spends that early on a seat they are comfortable holding. They are spending because they know what the map did.

WHAT THE MAP DID

On June 2 the Supreme Court cleared Alabama to use the 2023 map. The district that was drawn to elect Shomari Figures is gone. Mobile is out. The Black voting-age population falls from about 49 percent to under 40.

This is Republican-leaning Alabama ground again, and it is in effect for this election.

That is why a Washington committee is spending here in July. That is why this seat is worth their money and their trouble. And that is why Tuesday matters more than the turnout is going to suggest.

NINETY-FOUR PERCENT

Figures has a term of votes on the floor of the House. They are public, and we pulled all of them — every recorded roll call from June 3 to July 23, eighty-four of them, not a sample.

He was recorded on eighty-two. He voted with the House Democratic majority on seventy-seven of those. Ninety-four percent.

He broke with his party four times. Three of the four came on the night of July 21, inside nineteen minutes of each other — 9:46, 9:48, and 10:05 — about a week after national Republicans put him on their target list.

Those are his votes, out of the Clerk of the House's own record. Not a characterization. Not a rating from some group. The roll calls.

Ninety-four percent with a caucus this district did not elect, in a district that no longer looks like the one that sent him. That is the November argument, and there is a great deal more of it where this came from.

Tuesday is how you get someone on the field to make it.

A SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE WILL DECIDE THIS

There is no runoff. Whoever finishes first wins the nomination outright, however small the plurality.

This is a special primary in August with nothing else on the ballot, falling in the first week of school across much of the district. Turnout is expected to be very low.

Which means this is decided by the people who actually show up. Not by the people who meant to.

THE CLOSING DETAILS

Monday, August 10 — last day to hand-return a completed absentee ballot, by close of business. The application window has closed.

Tuesday, August 11 — polls open seven in the morning to seven at night. A mailed absentee ballot must arrive by noon. Bring photo identification.

Registration closed July 27. The rolls are final.

If you are not certain where you vote, check before Tuesday rather than on Tuesday morning.

Show up.